question of the day: Should we care that Kevin Smith has sold out?

It seems that Kevin Smith has accepted a job directing a film for a major studio that he himself did not write. It’s a buddy cop comedy that was originally going to be titled A Couple of Dicks, which certainly sounds like a Kevin Smith flick, but now it’s to be called, tediously and with all trace of a pun or a joke removed, A Couple of Cops. Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan are set to star.

My feeling after Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which I quite liked, is that Smith certainly needed to move on from the 20something slacker ethos, because the 20somethings coming up ain’t like us anymore. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t start making movies about 40something former slackers. It doesn’t mean he has to start making studio buddy cop comedies, god help us.

So, do you care — should any of us care — that Kevin Smith has gone Hollywood?